Dribbble.com Practices

I’d never heard of this site until I read an AIGA article about it and sites like it. Dribbble.com is a place where designers can show off projects they’re working on. Some use it in an effort to receive feedback on their work in hopes that said feedback will bring about a better design or just to gloat.

AIGA talked about how unprofessional it is to show projects, that are for a client and are ‘in process,’ on the internet and, essentially, to the masses. It should be said that some projects aren’t client based and, rather, are simply personal projects. I completely agree with not showing client work before completion, flat out. Don’t get me wrong; feedback from a few trusted eyes is something that I regularly practice and value, but to be trusted with client info and to show it to the world on your own is a foul. That sentence is essentially a truncated version of the AIGA article and I recommend reading it for it’s points on client-designer relations.

So after reading I’m checking out some of the work on the site and become mostly interested in the feedback that’s given about pieces and quickly come to realize the main flaw with dribbble.com: the feedback given by people is complete shit. “oh, cool” “that’s so cute” or “good” are the most worthless crits anyone could receive because it doesn’t push or challenge the design(er); or confirm it for that matter.

I submit that dribbble.com implement a new rule. A project can receive only up to 3 complements; beyond that is Three In The Key. Clearly it must be good enough and the project goes to some other page to make room for the kids that really need the help.

It’s not all positive feedback- although it mostly is. Kids will comment about hierarchy and layout which is important but because nobody that’s reviewing knows the brief, nobody can say “that’s a really strong concept for that client’s objectives” or “that concept doesn’t fit for these reasons: (…). Maybe something emphasising (some client aspect)” A lot of the projects seem to exercise a trendy practice and, for that reason, seem lacking in a thought out concept to, hopefully, guide to a more unique and identifiable design.

Like I said earlier, some are personal projects, so what I’ve said about not sharing doesn’t apply. And some people who post do mention “I’m trying to communicate (this).” Also not all the projects up are trend-city-3000; some are actually quite good and look like maybe they used their brain. Always remember though: CONCEPT IS KING, or if you prefer: CONCEPT IS KANG.

What do you think about dribbble.com? Let us know in the comments :)

PS. Having a site based in design, but basketball themed? That’s just rude.

PPS. I don’t really hit up the AIGA site too often so reading that article was also the time I realized that they totally copied BNB with their drop-cap. I would guess they implemented it before BNB’s launch so the only thing that makes sense is that AIGA went into the future, saw how big of a hit BossnotBoss.com was, and copied the drop-cap.